Moot point.
Perkins & Will's design is fantastic.
Agency was chosen for Shipyards West.
And there is zero expectation that what is first rendered in a design contest without hard constraints will be near the final design. It was a demonstration project, more or less, to show what each firm can/would do, under X criteria.
Art will be funded privately, a deserved secondary priority to getting the actual park built/funded.
Fully agree that the design of the park is fantastic.
In terms of the park space, it was my favorite of the finalists, and I think the latest designs for the park itself might even be better than what was originally presented.
I’m stoked for it to open.
Respectfully disagree on a couple of points though.
First, while there may have been no expectations that the initial round of 15 or so entries into the design contest would be anything more than proof of concept, that expectation did exist with the final three entries. We gave all three firms $150,000 in taxpayer money to create 50% designs of what the final park would look like. There were multiple rounds of Q&A on constraints, including budget, streetscape, private development, etc.
I’m glad Agency is designing Shipyards West, and I really like their design too, but the reason it’s not a moot point is because it reflects a bigger problem with how we treat developers and handle RFPs and development agreements that might be hurting our ability to attract more outside development during periods of economic boom.
I’m sure there are more that I’m missing, but looking at how the DIA’s RFPs have gone over the last 5 years:
- Convention Center RFP: Multiple firms bid; Jacobs brought 30 people for the pitch; Shad Khan raises a fit, the project is dropped
- Ford on Bay RFP 2: Multiple developers throw in, Spandrell is selected, project is abandoned
- LaVilla Townhome RFP: Johnson puts in what’s universally considered the best proposal; DIA chooses Vestcor and encourages them to use Johnson’s ideas
- Ford on Bay RFP 3: Multiple bidders put in; RFP prioritizes a development that will be built quickly; Hardwick wins and is giving a multi-year due diligence window
- Landing Private Development pad: RFP called for a priority on hotel and office space, winning bid is residential.
Again, love the design, but public art was a major part of the scoring for this RFP. I believe 20 percent of the overall scoring. Not conceptual, but at least 50 percent realized. P+W spent a large portion of their amazing presentation (best I’ve ever seen for an RFP response in Jax, by a MILE) speaking to the central art exhibit that would anchor their proposed project. The artist, Jefrè, came to the presentation and spoke very directly and very specifically to the piece that would anchor the park. He talked dimensions, materials, inspiration, and symbology. It wasn’t vague or conceptual, it was “this is the thing.” And it wasn’t a random sculpture tucked away in the corner of a park. At 160 feet tall, designed as a gathering spot and landmark, it was the central visual focus of the park.
The DIA, per their own explicit words, chose P+W at the culmination of a year-long process because of that central art piece. In the absence of that specific piece of art, the decision could very well have tipped toward Agency.
I personally really like the statue, but it’s far less about the art piece itself, and more about the city respecting the process, following through, and treating developers with respect. I just put myself in Agency’s shoes, to put in so much work and make it so close only to get beat out because of the art installation, only to have the DIA start backtracking on installing the art like two weeks later.
You can get away with stuff like that once or twice, but when every RFP turns wonky, you’re gonna burn the development community and scare people away from participating in your bid processes. There’s just so many examples of this happening in Jax. Not even solely the DIA. JEA wasting tens of thousands of hours and millions of dollars from other utilities in their “nevermind” privatization attempt. Curry bullying Toney Sleiman out of downtown by pulling permits and threatening eviction. Luring Related to the Southbank under the pretense that MOSH was rebuilding next door.
Love the park, the right partner probably won either way, just don’t love our habit of changing rules on the fly.
